


Short Disco ficlets

by lucyisalive



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Actor AU, Body Positivity, Don't copy to another site, M/M, Rent References
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-09 08:17:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18634327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucyisalive/pseuds/lucyisalive
Summary: A collection of short ficlets that I have written in the USS Spaceboos Discord over the past few months. Un-beta'd





	1. Insecure

**Author's Note:**

> This is a slight AU, in which Hugh is a (very famous) actor, who has to grow his hair and beard long for a role. It's slightly inspired by the time Wilson had to grow his hair longer to play Hugh in season 2, and was complaining about it on Twitter and Instagram! There's also a nice helping of body positivity.

“I don’t think I can go outside like this.”

Paul looked up at the sound of his partner’s voice coming from the bathroom. Through the open door he could see Hugh, dressed only in a towel wrapped around his waist, staring at himself in the mirror, a look of horror on his face as he stared at his reflection.

Paul’s eyes appreciatively traced the lines of Hugh’s torso, the planes of his back which were presented to him, and his chest and abs in his reflection in the mirror. Not for the first time, he wondered what he, a pale mushroom scientist, had done in a past life to deserve to be with a man like Hugh Culber: A-list actor and three-time GQ cover model.

“I agree,” Paul replied, “If you go outside in just a towel it’ll probably cause several shuttle crashes.”

Hugh rolled his eyes. “That’s not what I meant.”

“What _did_ you mean then?” Paul asked, already having a suspicion as to where this was going.

“ _Look_ at it Paul,” Hugh replied, miserably, indicating his general head area, “it’s so long, and scruffy, and it _itches._ Ugh.” He sighed dramatically. “I hate it. I look awful.”

Paul had to take a moment to wonder at the role reversal. Hugh was almost never insecure about his appearance. Unsurprising really, given that he was the most gorgeous man in the galaxy. Officially. They did a poll in one of those celebrity magazines.

It was always Paul who was insecure. Paul who would stare at himself in the mirror sometimes and hate what he saw. Paul who could spend hours disparaging the parts of his body that he wished he could change. Paul who would wonder aloud why a guy like Hugh would even look twice at him.

Paul remembered all the times that Hugh had reassured him, had told him he was beautiful, over and over. How he would hold Paul’s hand on red carpets, with all the cameras flashing, and squeeze it reassuringly whenever he could sense Paul getting insecure from the attention. How he would openly admire him whenever he undressed. How he would lay Paul down, and kiss him all over, and worship him with his body and his words.    

Paul was more confident in himself now. There were still moments of doubt, but they were fewer and further between. And that was all thanks to Hugh. Now it was time to return the favour.

He crossed the room and stopped at the bathroom door, staring at Hugh, who was in turn staring longingly at his electric shaver on the nightstand.

“You can’t seriously be considering shaving it,” Paul said disbelievingly. “You’ve been excited about playing this part for months.”

“I know,” Hugh replied, “but now I’m not sure it’s worth it…”

Paul laughed, and walked forward to wrap his arms around Hugh from behind. “You’re gorgeous,” he said, quietly, as he turned his head to kiss Hugh’s jawline, “and the scruff looks sexy as hell on you.”

Hugh rolled his eyes. “No. It doesn’t. It looks awful.”

“Hey,” Paul replied teasingly, “that’s my line.”

Hugh looked guilty for a moment, before raising his hand to run it through his hair. “I’m sorry… I just… I hate that it’s grey on the top now. It makes me look old…”

Paul smiled as he gently unhooked his arms and turned his love around to face him. Up close, he gazed at Hugh’s face, the lines on his forehead, the soft wrinkles under his eyes, and the small patches of grey that now ran through his hair and beard. He reached out his hand and stroked his cheek lovingly, before leaning forward to whisper intimately into his partner’s ear. “You know there are some people who are _really_ into that sort of thing,” he said, slightly deviously.

That finally got a laugh out of Hugh, the lines on his face crinkling adorably. “Are _you_ into that sort of thing?” he asked, his eyebrows raised.

“Well… I wasn’t exactly sure before,” Paul replied. “But now…” he let his eyes wander over Hugh’s face again in open appreciation, “… now I think I could get behind it.”

Hugh laughed again, and leaned forwards for a kiss. Paul let it become heated, slipping his tongue past Hugh’s lips as he brought his hands up to run them through his hair. He suddenly became very aware of the sensation of Hugh’s beard on his cheek and pulled away for a moment, so he could rub his face against Hugh’s. The sensation was _delightful,_ and he immediately did it again, and again, making small sounds of satisfaction as he did so.

Hugh grinned at the familiar gesture. “Enjoying yourself love?” he asked playfully.

“Mmmm,” Paul replied, “God you’re fucking hot like this.”

“Do you really think so?” Hugh said, a slight hint of vulnerability entering his voice again.

Paul pulled away again, so he could gaze into his love’s eyes.

“Hugh Culber. You are, without a doubt, the most unfairly gorgeous man I have ever laid eyes on. It doesn’t matter how grey your hair is, how much scruff you have in your beard or how _old_ you think look, you’re still able to drive me _fucking crazy_ with how attracted I am to you. To me, you are the sexiest person in the known universe. The unknown universe as well, actually. Believe me.”

Hugh brought his hand up to stroke Paul’s cheek, mirroring his gesture from before. “Okay, I believe you. As long as you promise me that you’ll believe me next time I tell you the same thing.”

Paul smiled. “I promise,” he said, leaning forward to kiss him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! I only have three of these short fics so far, next one will be up tomorrow and the next the day after. 
> 
> Please leave kudos/comments, they give me life.
> 
> You can find me on twitter/tumblr @lucyisalive


	2. The road not traveled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a little self-indulgent snippet in which Paul once starred in RENT, because I said so that's why.

Hugh was digging through his partner’s wardrobe, looking for a shirt he’d mislaid, when he found a plastic bag tucked away in the back. Opening it, he found a scarf, very old, quite worn, with white and dark blue stripes.

He gazed at it, puzzled, for a few moments. He’d never seen Paul wear it before, but it looked like something that his partner cared for, given that he’d clearly kept it a long time, and put it in a bag to protect it.

Paul came into the room, and stopped when he noticed what Hugh was looking at.

“Hey, what are you doing with that?” he asked.

“I just found it in the back of the wardrobe. What is it?”

“Uh…” Paul was going slightly red. “Well actually… it’s the scarf I wore when I played Mark in my high school’s production of RENT.

Hugh looked at him, surprised. “I never knew you played Mark?! Although you do look the part.”

Paul rolled his eyes. “What? Awkward and nerdy?”

Hugh laughed. “That’s not exactly what I meant.”

“Well whatever you meant, the casting director agreed with you. I remember they nearly jumped for joy when I came in to audition. That was before I even sang.” Paul came over and took the scarf from Hugh’s hands, running his fingers along it thoughtfully.

“Did you do a lot of theater in high school?” Hugh asked.

“Not really. RENT was pretty much my first and last foray into it,” Paul replied. “Not that I didn’t enjoy it. I loved doing that production so much that for a short time I thought I might actually go into professionally. But then I realised I could never give up my science. And soon after that I realised that if I wanted to be serious about becoming an expert in my field, I wouldn’t have time for anything else. Still, I kept the scarf to remind me of… I don’t know. The road not traveled? I know it’s kind of silly.”

“It’s not silly at all,” Hugh said softly. Taking the scarf back, he slowly wrapped it around Paul’s neck and pulled it tight. He grinned. “You look cute in that.”

Paul scoffed. “It makes me feel like I’m 18 again.”

“Hmm well I bet you were cute in high school. I wish we’d known each other then.”

“You’ve seen pictures.”

“Sure, but it’s not the same as…” Hugh broke off suddenly, and his eyes went wide.

“What?”

“Paul. Your high school production. Is there… is there video?”

“No!” Paul answered hurriedly.

“Oh my god there is isn’t there. Does your Mom have it?”

“No, no she definitely doesn’t,” Paul replied, very unconvincingly.

“Oh, this is amazing. I have to call her immediately and ask her to send it. This I must see.”

Paul sighed. “There’s no way I’m getting out if this is there.”

“Nope.”

“Fine. I’ll watch it with you.”

“Excellent. And Paul?”

“Yes?”

“Keep the scarf on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, Anthony has said in an interview somewhere that he got to keep the scarf from when he played Mark, so this is partly inspired by that. I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Please leave kudos/comments, they give me life.
> 
> You can find me on twitter/tumblr @lucyisalive


End file.
